Elizabeth "Batty" Penderwick
Elizabeth "Batty" Penderwick is the youngest of the four original Penderwick sisters. Named after her mother, Elizabeth Penderwick, she is shy but also playful, and has a love of all animals. Her interests (in later books) include music and animals. History Early life In the prologue of the second book, Batty is a baby still in the hospital. Her older sisters are curious about her, though Skye and Jane seem to be more concerned about when their mother will return home than about their new sister. In the second book, we learn from a story that Batty tells her neighbor (and later brother) Ben that Batty was once dropped in the water at Cape Cod and almost drowned. The Penderwicks The book begins with a flash-forward, Batty speaking to her sister as an adult. She is four when the Penderwicks go to Arundel. She is shown to have a rather rocky relationship with Skye and to be very close to her dog, Hound. Batty immediately takes to the boy they meet at Arundel, Jeffrey, and mentions marrying him in the future. She relies on Rosalind for everything, needing to be close to her at all times. Jeffrey's "snooty" mother, Mrs. Tifton, refers to her as "odd" because she wears butterfly wings and is very shy around new people. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street Batty develops more as a character in the second book, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, as well as developing in age. She becomes close to Ben, her neighbor who later becomes her step brother, and they often play games together. With that she also befriends Iantha, Ben’s mom, going to her house and talking with her, and shows one of her flashes of wisdom when she suggests Iantha as a date for Mr. Penderwick with the Save-Daddy Plan. She welcomes Iantha into her family, excited to finally have a little brother and a new Mom. Batty often plays spying on "Bug Man" with Ben. . The Penderwicks at Point Mouette In the third book, Batty is five years old. Batty takes a seperate vacation from Rosalind, whom she misses so much that she writes a letter to her and has Jeffrey throw it into the ocean for her in hopes that Rosalind will find it along the coast in New Jersey. She also receives music lessons from Jeffrey. Towards the end of the book, she has a recital, which is so good even Skye can't complain. She also spends time collecting lost golf balls with her newfound friend Mercedes Orne, and the family helps her put together a golf ball sale. The Penderwicks In Spring Unlike the other Penderwick books, most of this book is told in Batty's point of view. She is almost eleven and has a new best friend, Keiko Trice. Early in the book, Batty gets a new music teacher, Mrs. Grunfield, whom she adores almost immediately. The new music teacher tells Batty she has a "rare and beautiful" singing voice (unlike the rest of her family who, according to the Mr. Penderwick, sound like "depressed sheep") and she should get voice lessons. Batty then becomes determined to pay for singing lessons, so she starts a dog walking business. She then finds herself walking a very overweight dachshund named Duchess and another dog named Cilantro. Batty still doesn't fully trust herself with these new dogs after Hound's unfortunate death, but she does very well with them. Later, she hears Skye and Jeffrey talking and Batty finds out a shocking family secret. Skye also blames Batty for their mother's death. After confessing she heard that, the truth comes from Mr. Penderwick, about how Batty didn't kill her mother and Skye had misunderstood, being only 7 at the time. The book ends with a full character circle for Batty: she is seen playing piano and singing a song picked by her voice teacher. As she plays, it is revealed that the Penderwick family is awaiting the return of Nick from the military, and the story concludes with the Penderwick family and their two new dogs, Feldspar and Sonata, rushing out to greet "their hero". The Penderwicks At Last In the fifth and final book, The Penderwicks at Last, we see a nineteen-year-old Batty. S she was described as “the Saint Francis of Cameron”. Batty disputed this title, saying it should be normal to have “a limitless love for animals” She is revealed to want to marry Jeffrey. Personality Batty is innocent, shy, and a lover of animals and her family, but is most curious of her mother, who died weeks after her birth. As a result, she often asks Rosalind to tell her a story about their mother at bedtime. She was very fond of Hound, the family dog, as he was of her, and was also fond of Cagney's rabbits, Yaz and Carla, and visited them almost every day in the first book. Later, she is the favorite of the Penderwick dogs Sonata and Feldspar. The younger Batty almost always hid behind her sisters when meeting a new person. She had a knack for getting herself and her sisters in trouble with her curiosity and unconventional problem-solving strategies. In the second book, she befriended Ben, the toddler who had recently moved next door with his mother Iantha (who later becomes the Penderwicks' stepmom). * ason. During her summer at Point Mouette, she is taught music by Jeffrey and proves to be a very able musician. * The youngest child, Batty is a very innocent and very shy 4-year-old who is a great lover of animals and her family. Batty always asks Rosalind to tell her a story about their mother almost every night at bedtime. She is very fond of Hound, the family dog, as he is of her, and is also fond of Cagney's rabbits, Yaz and Carla, and visits them almost every day to give them carrots. She almost always hides behind her sisters when she meets a new person and, for the first book, always wore orange-and-black dress-up butterfly wings, for an unknown reason. During the second book, she befriends Ben, the toddler who had recently moved next door, often spying on "Bug Man" with him. During her summer at Point Mouette, she is taught music by Jeffrey and proves to be a very able musician. Appearance In the first book, Batty is always seen with her favorite orange-and-black butterfly wings. She won't go anywhere without them. However, at the end of Book 1 she gave her wings to Jeffrey as a gift. Batty has dark brown curly hair and dark brown eyes, like her sisters Jane and Rosalind. Relationships Jeffrey Tifton- Batty loves Jeffrey, and even says she is going to marry him several times throughout the books. In The Penderwicks, four-year-old Batty suggests that Jeffery could marry her, after he saves her life twice, and in The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, Batty again says that Jeffrey is going to marry her when they grow up. Rosalind Penderwick- Batty loves Rosalind dearly, thinking of her as "her best sister". Rosalind took on the role of being Batty’s mother after their own mom passed away from cancer shortly after Batty’s birth. Skye Penderwick- Batty and Skye aren’t very close in the first four books. However, though they have their differences, a misunderstanding towards the ending of the 4th book causes them to grow closer. In the 5th book, they're the best of friends. Jane Penderwick- Though Batty preferred Rosalind, Jane was a quick second to care for her. Batty was Jane’s guinea pig for her play in The Penderwicks on Gardam Street. In the 5th book, they get along very well, especially now that they’re both grown. Trivia *She has many favorite stuffed animals, including a tiger that her little brother Ben gave her and Funty and Ellie the elephants. *Batty believes that she is able to communicate with animals, and seems to understand them more than normal people. *She loves to play a game called "Cavemen" with Ben, when she and him disappear under the table. *In the first book, she is portrayed as somewhat of a shy character, but later on she grows bolder and is even able to stand up to Mr. Dupree (Dexter) in the third book. * In the second book, she and Ben play a game called 'Secret Agents' where they spy on 'Bug Man.' * She is the only Penderwick that has a talent in music, as shown in the third book.